TWO down with three to play against the best side in the world - you could say that we've got a bit of ground to make up in the battle for the Ashes.

On paper the eight-wicket defeat at Lord's looks like another good hiding, and nobody in the England camp would attempt to deny that Australia were again superior in all departments.

But, without trying to make excuses, I have to say that the game could have taken a very different course if we hadn't lost the toss for the ninth time in a row.

I'm not saying we would have won, but I can certainly tell you that our bowlers were desperately disappointed not to get first crack at the Aussie batsmen.

With the weather they'd had at Lord's during the week and the pitch being under cover for such a long period, conditions were very much in favour of traditional English seam bowling last Thursday, and Darren Gough and Andy Caddick in particular would have relished that opportunity.

There were some good vibes in the dressing room - people were really up for the game - and I have no doubts that even Australia's batsmen would have found it hard going on a day when the wicket was always doing a bit and there were so many interruptions.

We don't seem to be having much luck with the toss these days: logic says that you should call right half the time so we are obviously a long way short of getting our fair share.

We just have to hope that the balance will tip back in our favour at some stage - or, at least, the toss isn't so crucial next time we lose out.

ALTHOUGH the England side wasn't confirmed until just before the delayed start of play on Thursday, I had suspected for some time that I wouldn't get a place in the final 11.

The history of Lord's, and the weather leading up to the game, always made it likely that the captain and the coach would opt for an all-seam attack, even though there was a good chance that there would be some turn later in the match.

I was told around 9.30am on Thursday: they don't make a big deal out of it, just called me aside and explained their thinking along horses for courses lines.

And, although I would obviously have loved the chance to play, I fully accepted that explanation.

As a spin bowler you get used to the fact that your participation in a game is usually dictated by weather and pitch conditions, so you can perhaps accept it more readily than a batsman or a pace bowler.

I spent Thursday and most of Friday in the dressing room, along with the other surplus bowler, Chris Silverwood, and Matthew Wood, who was called up to join the squad.

That meant that I did get the opportunity to meet The Queen, who was introduced to the teams during the tea interval on Thursday. And, as an unashamed royalist, I can tell you that it was a great experience.

There was a strange sense of anticipation as we waited to be introduced to her. Some of the older players, like Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart, had met her before, of course, but all of us new boys felt nervous about it - which is quite surprising, really, bearing in mind we were in the middle of a Lord's Test against Australia.

It was one of the best things, if not the best, that's happened to me in my career, and another great story to tell my son Anders when he's a bit older.

PERHAPS the worst bit of news to come out of the Lord's Test is that Graham Thorpe cracked a bone in his hand when he was hit by Brett Lee - he is definitely out of next week's match at Trent Bridge and might miss the Headingley game that starts on August 16.

It's a huge shame for Graham, who was so delighted to be back in action after recovering from his calf injury. And with Nasser Hussain also likely to miss the third Test, it's the last thing England needed.

As I've said before, you need all your players in prime form and fitness if you are to stand any realistic chance against Australia, so to have your best batsman ruled out is an enormous blow.

I wasn't around for the end of the Lord's game but I know that the guys were a bit low and, not surprisingly, this week's papers have been full of speculation about the Aussies going on to complete a series whitewash.

We've obviously got to raise our game, particularly in terms of holding on to every chance that comes our way, and there has been some justifiable criticism about various aspects of our play.

But what I can promise you is that every player who turns out for England is giving it 100-percent and will continue to do so for the rest of the summer. They can't try any harder because they've been trying their guts out.

Chasing a Yorkshire total of 234-6 in Monday's Norwich Union League match we were bowled out for 59, our worst-ever one-day total, after being 12-6 at one stage.

I'd like to be able to tell you exactly what went wrong but, to be honest, I still haven't got a clue. All you can say is that it was a nightmare from ball one (well, ball two to be precise) and hope that it was just one of those things - a one-off freak.

I've certainly never been involved in anything like it and I couldn't begin to give you any excuses: there was nothing dodgy about the pitch and the lights didn't come into it because we were bowled out before it started to start dark.

The most disappointing aspect of the performance is that perhaps only two of those wickets were down to the quality of the bowling.

The rest were the sort of individual mistakes that can happen to any batsman in any match, but don't often crop up six or seven times in the space of a dozen overs.

The only positive thing I could say about it - and, admittedly, I'm desperately clutching at straws here - is that Yorkshire didn't get a good look at us before today's C&G Trophy match.

They will be cock-a-hoop after beating us so easily, but they know we have got batsmen who have been getting good scores this season, and they hardly had an opportunity to weigh up their strengths and weaknesses!

Unfortunately, they won't have to worry about Dominic Ostler, who has been sidelined for the rest of the season and, as with Graham Thorpe and England, that's a bitter blow for the player and the team.

Dominic has undoubtedly been our best batter in all competitions this season - the rock of the middle order - and we are really going to miss him.

But it's one of those situations we can't do anything about and we've got to hope that other players can grasp the opportunity his absence presents.

Ian Bell, I'm sure, will be eager to show what he can do if he gets an extended first-team run while David Hemp will want to cement his place in the one-day side.

It's up to them to shoulder the extra responsibility: their attitude has got to be 'I'm a good batter, I'll get the runs and then try to leave me out.'

That's the way we've developed strength in depth in the past, and although I'm desperately sorry for Dominic, I'm sure we've got players at Edgbaston who can turn this situation into something positive.

THE other odd aspect to Monday's match - apart from that lop-sided scorecard - was Yorkshire's celebration routine when Trevor Penney was run out.

As you perhaps read in yesterday's Evening Telegraph, they sat down in a circle around the stumps at one end, laughing and joking, while poor Trevor was stranded at the other.

Against a team that's just slumped to 45-7 that looks suspiciously like taking the mickey, and I can tell you that it didn't go down too well in our dressing room at the time.

Speaking to one of their guys later, I gather that it was something of an in-joke they'd been cooking up, rather along the lines of football teams who rehearse elaborate goal celebrations, and wasn't aimed personally against us.

Whatever the intentions, it didn't look very dignified and I don't think it did much for the image of cricket - and, rest assured, it certainly hasn't left us short of incentives to put the record straight today.